Practitioners consider MTD ITSA compromise
As Making Tax Digital for Income Tax Self Assessment rumbles ever closer, some practitioners said they would comply with the plans if HMRC compromised on increasing the threshold. Could a new threshold engage the MTD-averse accounting community?
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If threshold movement is temporary, then it is pointless.
If HMRC believes its own BS propaganda then voluntary (for ever) is the answer
If it is so good, and as Sage has said saves £17,000 a year, then people would be joyously lineing up to join.
The system that works now must still remain as there are a lot of tax returns and exceptions that will still need to be made
Punishing the poor and the IT illiterate and reluctant for the sole benefit of HMRC justifying its outrageous costs of implementing a system that is still currently incapable of delivery is inept and uncaring
Shame on the entire UK government
Don’t care anymore. Between MTD and ever increasing audit regulations I’ve had enough and will be retired before it’s implemented like many other experienced practitioners. Then where will HMRC be when the profession says it hasn’t the manpower or experience to do all the work that will be generated with the result that submissions will be rushed, full of errors - basically rubbish. Oh I nearly forgot - all the decent inspectors in HMRC have beaten us to it and already gone and the ones left won’t know the difference or care. HMRC will then announce that MTD has been successfully implemented - job done. Move on.
HMRC won't compromise though...until they have no choice when there is mass non-compliance with the project.
The whole point of this and HMRC's intention is just that - mass fines result from mass failure and that is the way forward.
HMG daren't raise taxes more but needs the money to support the inflated civil service and its pensions so whither to go? Fines, fines and more fines. Late payment fines, late submission fines, gdpr fines (eye-watering those), Driving fines for everything you can think of to give local civil servants their salaries and pensions and on it goes. Don't really need Putin to take over - HMG will turn us into a state of zombies without his help. And most of it is needed to cover the grotesque inefficiencies in all the Government departments.
The fact that MTD will have two obvious drawbacks doesn't bother HMRC:-
1. The figures supplied by digital methods are likely to be less accurate as the programs are easy to misunderstand and the client's attitude is generally 'stick it in, claim the VAT and it will be OK'. Aside from such attitudes errors are easy to make and no doubt , encouraged by the 'Accounting Reports' they will send in their figures based on the program and we all know how meaningful that will be. After all the VAT gap has expanded with MTD!
2. Those on the borderline will think 'Blow this for a game of soldiers - I will retire' and then just work for cash - even now, post covid, there seems to be more suggestions that cash is the thing. Certainly in London it used to be that 'cash is King' and I bet it still is.
Well I shall retire, not to earn cash but because I have had enough of this nonsense, and watch the chaos that ensues. I expect that Jim will get a knighthood and a big handout and the chaos will continue.
What really upsets me is that I and all of you are expected to pay for this grotesque mess and the people who thought it up. I should have thought there were better things to do with the money.
Accountants and advisors and the institutes need to be more militant with HMRC.
We should all try and resist this madness until HMRC gets it's act together with all it's current failings. These are far more important for them to sort out.
No, no compromise, the institutes should push back strongly against government and HMRC in this.
Accountants more militant? How about we all threaten to send in ALL our 2022/23 SA Returns on paper (at least until the 31 October paper return deadline). I know we are pressured by HMRC to use electronic means but is there any actual legislation preventing us from submitting paper returns?
If they can just ditch the quarterly reporting then I can live with digital records. In fact we see very few manual books these days, so writing up 12 rental income statements into a compliant Excel format annually would be fine, and little change from what we do now. Quarterly reporting is just needless, unworkable madness.
I am really quite appalled that the professional bodies and well-known-commentators are not being more militant about this as it will take a wrecking ball to the profession and taxpaying public. All I am hearing from them is how splendid the emperors clothes are. They do us a disservice.
If you listened to Rebecca Bennyworth's webcast yesterday, she made it clear that HMRC are completely wedded to the £10,000 limit. She is clearly embedded with HMRC, having accepted an invitation to get involved some years ago. I expect she thought she could make a difference, but it seems she hasn't changed the thinking. She's OK with it, because she has put almost all her clients into the cloud. Bank feeds solve the problem, and make her role easier. She says she no longer has to deal with bags of paperwork in January. Well, there are clients who manage to bring me paperwork, or even spreadsheets, well before January so that is a rather irrelevant observation